Genetic improvement in beef cattle is mainly based on the production records of the animals, obtained both in vivo and in the carcass. The development of a linear morphological evaluation offers the possibility of a potential source of phenotypic information in a large number of animals at early ages. If these characters show a high genetic correlation with the characters included in the selection objective, they can be used to create new selection criteria that allow an efficient indirect selection. To evaluate this possibility, phenotypic records from linear morphological evaluation of Pirenaica cattle breed have been used. It evaluates up to 16,350 animals per trait. Recorded traits included 6 traits related with muscular development and their average, 6 traits related with skeletal development and their average, 8 traits related with functional ability and their average, 6 traits related with breed morphology and their average. Additionally, this evaluation also tackles a global morphological evaluation, condition score, leg bone thickness, docility, hoof shape, udder depth and nipple length and thickness. All these traits have been analyzed using bivariate models that also included productive (Cold Carcass Weight, Carcass Conformation and Carcass Fatness) and reproductive (Age at First Calving, Calving Interval and Survival to Fourth Calving) characters, available at CONASPI (National Confederation of Pirenaica Breeders Associations) database. To do so, the pedigree information used contains 343,753 Individual‑Sire‑Dam records. The results obtained confirm the existence of moderate heritabilities in most of the traits. Moreover, genetic correlations between morphological characters related to skeletal and muscular development and carcass traits are highlighted. Among them, some posterior mean estimates were over 0.30, such as between round convexity and conformation (0.365) and between the subtotal for skeletal development and carcass weight (0.357). Furthermore, docility has been shown to not be highly genetically correlated with any of the characters used as selection criteria.

López‑Carbonell D, Altarriba J, Ramírez MA, Srihi H, Varona L (2023). Correlaciones genéticas entre caracteres morfológicos y caracteres reproductivos, de crecimiento y calidad de la canal en la raza bovina Pirenaica. ITEA‑Información Técnica Económica Agraria 119(3): 225-243. https://doi.org/10.12706/itea.2023.002